Metal rolling



Oct. 30, 1928.

J. B. TYTUS METAL ROLLING 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 8, 1925 Oct. 30, 1928.

1,689,463 J. B. TYTUS METAL ROLLING Filed April 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Oct. 30, 1928.

1,689,463 J. B. TYTUS METAL ROLLING 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 8, 1925 Maw Oct. 30, 1928.

J. B. TYTUS METAL ROLLING Filed April 8, 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 N b l 7 I a m z u Patented Oct. so, 1928. 1,689,463

UNITED STATES PATENT orsica.

JOHN B. TYTUS, OF MIDDLETOWN, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICAN ROLLING MILL COMPANY, OF MIDDLETOWN, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

METAL ROLLING.

Application filed April 8, 1925. Serial No. 21,661.

My invention relates to plants for the roll- Figure 4 is a continuation on a larger scale ing of metal from the ingot into sheets and showing the plant for reduction of packs to thinplates and more particularly to a series of finished gauge. successive treatments of a piece of metal, Figures 1, 2 3 and 4 are projected side 5 through steps of reduction into the final prodelevations of the mill parts of the plan views 55 not. omitting feed tables.

It is my object to provide a mode of treat- Figure 5 is .a vertical section of the pack ment for metal which permits of its reduction furnace on same scale as Figure 4. in the most economical possible manner, with Figures 6 to 14 are perspectives illustrating regularity of product to the desired gauge, the piece in its various stages.

and with the minimum of labor cost, machin- Some of the mechanisms indicated by me ery upkeep, and time consumed from the inare novel with me, and some are old in the got to the final product. art, but I do not desire to cover any specific In my process I have provided for a treatmechanisms in my present invention, but 15 ment of the metal in each stage, which will merely the-treatment of hot metal, by means 35 provide great economy in production, and of mechanisms which are within the skill of can route through my rolling and heating elethe person versed in the artto produce and opments, an ingot of iron or steel, and reduce it erate by following my directions. to thin plates, and sheets with a saving in I start with what is known as a slab ingot,

labor at every stage thatreduces tremendously indicated at 1, which has greater width than 7 the cost of producing sheet metal. thickness. Among other things my process I now have in operation a plant which actupermits of the use of one size and shape of ally ac omplish the r sults to be not d by ingot for all products, which is a considerable me. Among other things my process results economy.

in producing thin sheet and plate metal of The ingot is first reduced to a slab 2, in a 75 definite gauge throughout its length, in avoidblooming or slabbing mill indicated at 3. ing loss of heat,cequalizing heatof the piece to The slab will have a cross sectional area which the end of obtainingthis definite gauge, in the is specified for the production of a given order production of a piece which will always easily on the rolling plant. It then passes to a furenter and pass through the successive stands naee 4 and shear 5. 8 of rolls which engage it, and in the provision This furnace, which I have termed an equalof merchantable products, in finished form, at izing furnace, operates so as to bring the piece various stages of production, which products to a proper temperature for the next treatmay be used in the further steps of the process ment, and to conserve the heat which still or sold to the customer after such cold workremains in the piece. The shears being at the 35 ingJor surface treatment as is required. exit, Side of the furnace, the time consumed Th t i l i th i d t l i in cutting off the sections at the front end of dustry has become involved because of spethe piece, does not give the rear end thereof cialization in its variousbranches, so that I a nce to cool, as it lies within the furnace. 4 do not wish the terminology which is used by It would be required otherwise to cut up the am me throughout this specification to be taken bloom 2 into sections and keep the sec ions in too specific a sense. p at a soaking temperature until all were uni-' I accomplish my objects by that certain form, before the next reduction. process of progressive reduction and heat con- The slab is cut into sections 6, which are of servation and equalization, to be hereinafter a length equal to the desired ultimate width more specifically pointed out and claimed. of the finished product, and of the width of In the drawings: the bloom. The pieces 6 are turned at right Figures 1, 2 and 3 are continuations in plan angles by table 7 a before being passed through view and partially diagrammatic showing a the rolls 7, or if the width issuitable for the plant for rolling hot metal. finished product, there will be no turning of mu the piece and the length of the piece will be" regulated by the quantity of metal desired.

The rolls are arranged in tandem, preferably, and the pieces 6 are fed along through these rolls resulting in a thick plate 8 being formed. This plate is then fedthrough anoth'en furnace, and shear device indicated at 9 and 10, resulting in the sheared sections 11, which have uniform heat, uniform shape and uniform cross section for a the action of the roll series or mill and the action of the furnace and shears.

,The pieces 11 are then passedas quickly aspossible through a series of stands of rolls piece is engaged by them.

" piece w 12 and 13. I have indicated pairs of driven rolls at 12, and three high stands of rolls at 13 having the middle roll a small one in diameter," so as to effect rapid reduction. The stands form a mill, which is either tandem or continuous, but preferably continuous, if at all, in the last two stands only. The advantage of having the roll stands in tandem as opposed to continuous, is that it eleminates one factor in apportioning the total required reduction between the various stands, in that the best results in shape wit out regard to elongation of predrafts ma be set to give ceding and following stands. For instance any one or more mills may be blanked entirely.

The amount the radius of convexity is increased in each stand is subject to limitations of the necessity to the end of the I a flat piece.' Ar over reduction is likely of keeping up the convexity operation, and of preserving to extend the center of the pieceso much as to result in bulg'in and an under r thereof.

The dual reduction fill- 11 starts offwith the piece along the middle uction to result in dishing? .of convexity of a result in a smooth passage ofthe piece through everystand of rol s, so that no dishing or twisting will occur. Also the convexity of piece and active pass results in the piece passin through the center of the rolls and being delivered in true alignment.

The rolls of the mill 12, 13 should be kept cool and very rigidly su ported, and the path can be ve of the piece through t e mill rolls at 700 rapid. I run the last stand of given run, due toof the individual pieces charge that in the sheet sufiicient convexity through rolls which are suitably turned, will eet per minute in regular practice. I have" shown a water, cooling structure a t 12 for the rolls of the mill ings are very heavy, and of the closed type as distinguished from open.

The finished piece as indicated atl i, may be passed through'a roller leveler 149, and is then a finished sheet or plate of the jobbing mill type, re uiring no more hot working.

Should it e desired to make thin sheets, and of the type product produced on the sheet finishing mills of today, the pieces 14 are matched'into' packs of two or more as at 15, Figure 12, and reheated in a furnace 16.

12, 13, and the hous- This furnace is coupled direct with another soaking furnace'or equalizing furnace unit 17 and the packs are-'cut-by the shears 18 into the lengths 19 for passage through the sheet mills. It'will be observed that the lengthwise components of the metal pieces remain the same throughout all but the mill, in the particular instance being described. The

matching may be done after the pieces have passed the furnace 17 andshear 18 instead of before.

y reason of the continuous process above descr'bed, and the rapidity of action, it is obvious that I make a great saving in the application of heat to the piece.

The sheet mills are indicated at 20, there being as many stands as desired, four being used by me of which three are shown on my diagram. Located adjacent the delivery sides of the rolls are heating furnaces 21,

which heat the packs to desired temperature. The furnaces are far enough awayfrom the succeeding stands of rolls, however, that the operators may watch the pieces and manipulate or'manually control their feed into the succeeding mills. The operator can by the control of these furnaces, provide a pack for each pass which has the temperature which he desires.

pieces 14, it

will be noted, that I add to the convexity of contour of the packs, over that makin them' up. The sheet mills will be so turne screw and temperature and the temperature of the piece, so controlled by the rollers in mills, the packs will in each stand be iven a'reduction along the center, packs he (1 at somev convexity of contour up to the last which I mean the periphery of their cross sections, center thickness to. edge thicknesswillbe retained substantially proportionateat each pass, as in the instance of the mill 12, 13.

This as in the other mills of my process insures a smooth passage of the pack through and 13" blOOIIllIlg will be such that the ratio of the The finished pack is shown at 22. By forming packs 2, 3, 4-01 more of the and'their greatert an atthe edges and the The contour of the packs, by

each stand of rolls, and gives a product which is not unduly elongated at the middle or at the side edges, as it passes through each stand. The rolls of mill 2 0 are run hot, that is to say they are dry. The packs also are rolled loose or open, that is to say, there is'some material placed between the pieces forming the pack to prevent them from sticking, or else after each pass, pieces forming the pack are pulled apart before the next pass.

I find, however, that by the use of the intermediate furnaces, in the sheet reduction steps, I am able to flow water onto the rolls, thus keeping them cold, and operating thenr as cold mills, the pieces being kept up in temperature intermediate the several stands. when required. Thus I may run the sheet mills cold and relieve the roller from the necessity of figuring in a variable temperature factor as to the rolls, in providing for progressive convexities of activepass.

I am not familiar with any process which uses jobbing mill sheets for forming packs for a sheet mill, that is to say, I use material for making packs which isof commercial length and gauge, while all prior practice has been to reduce sheet bars to rough plates for making packs, which are of correct length for packs, and are not commercial articles. I am notaware of any continuous process, proposed or adopted, 1n which there is a cross rolling when the piece is quite thick, but

- thereafter the piece is kept in a straight line, with its central lengthwise portions preserved as the central lengthwise portions all along. The single cross rolling permits of standard ingot sizes and slab widths for all products which. it is desired to produce, shifts the side edges of the slabs to the ends of subsequent pieces and also shifts the pipe in an ingot out of the lengthwise components to the crosswise components of the pieces formed, so

- the piece, since t that, instead of carrying a defect longitudinally it is restricted to a transverse section permitting the good portions to be used in further steps with the process.

After a piece not already convex has reached a certain stage in its.reduction, an effort to set up a convex bite between a stand of rolls operating on the piece, would distort ere cannot be such a flow of metal during the action of the rolls, as will permit the portions at the edges to be forced into the middle. It is not soimportant that the piece furnished the mill 12, 13, be specific as to contour, although for any run the thickness should be uniform, since the first stand 12 can set the contours for the remaining stands.

It is of primary importance that the packs furnished the sheet mill are of a known contour for a given run. The

fit of the piece as to contours to the active pass between the rolls in the sheet mill, is primary in importance, requiring a calipering of the plates forming the packs so as to give the roller advance information as to subsequent roll action.

An attempt to provide a sheet for continuous rolling, with pieces roughed out from stance the sections of the them to plates,

sheet bars presents several difficulties. In the first place, no satisfactory means has been worked out, so far as I am advised, for the heating, and rapid mechanical and accurate feeding of a piece as short as a sheet bar turned crosswise, similar to the present mill practice of roughing. In the next place the product the ordinary roughing mill (so termed) is not a commercial product in itself, and could not be made so because to roll a long piece from sheet bars requires rapid action, to avoid reheating, and a con tinuous reduction process, neither of which is provided in the roughing mill. Also if the rolls in the mill 12, 13 are not run cold, there will be no practical possibility of control when the operation is very rapid, as is necessary for economy in operation. Instead of cross cutting the jobbing mill sheets in my process and matching them, I may, of course, form doubles byfolding over in which inplate are not severed from each other until after doubling.

In the operation of the ordinary sheet mill inseveral passes, packs are frequently produced which are variously distorted and not flat, and which would be difficult or impos sible to handle in a tandem mill. I have accordingly found it to be preferable to maintain a controlled temperature of the pack lation.

Furthermore, ing the packs hot they must be kept ,loose or open in entering each stand, or else they would stick together permanently, and manipulation is required for this purpose.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is

1. That process of reducing ingots to thin plates which consists in forming a slab ingot of a width suitable for the length of a subsequent pie'c e, reducing the ingot to a slab, cross cutting the slab into sections, turning the sections at right angles, and reducing cross cutting the plates into sections and reducing the sections in successive stands of rolls to finished thin bodies without subsequent right angled turning afterthe first one above mentioned.

2. That process of reducing metal to thin sheets which consists in providing highly heated plate sections reducing said sections by successively single passes through a series of stands of rolls,'maintaining said stands cool, formingpacks of cross cuttings of the flat pack. Thus furnaces I I due to the necessity of keep stands of rolls,

' sheets sheets which consists in providing heated thin metal plates of known contour sheets which consists heated plate sections reducing said sections 'tained loose resulting product of the reduction and reducing said packs by successive single passes through a series of stands of rolls.

3. That process of reducing metal to thin in'providing highly by successive single passesthrough a series of stands of rolls, maintaining said stands cool, forming packs of cross cuttings of the resulting product of the said reduction, and reducing said packs, by successive single passes through a series'of stands of rolls, which are run hot. v

4. That process of reducing metal to thin sheets which consists in providing sections of hot,'thick metal, successively reducing said sections by single passes. through a series of maintaining said stands cool, formin packs of the resulting product of the first re uction, and successively reducing said packs by single passes throu h a series of stands of rolls, which are run liot, the pieces forming said packs being maintained loose with relation to each other, as they enter each pass.

-5. That process of reducing metal to thin sheets which consists in providing sections of hot, thick, metal, successively reducing said sections by single passes through a series of stands of rolls, maintaining said stands cool,

heating and forming packs of the resulting product of the first reduction,and successively reducing said packs by single passes throng a series of stands of rolls, applying heat to the acks between the stands of rolls, the pieces Forming said packs being'mainwith relation'to each other, as they enter each pass.

6. A continuous process of sheet rolling which consists in through successive stands of rolls-for single engagement by each stand, passing the pack through a furnace between two at least of said stands, and manipulating the pack to separate the sheets in the openintermediate the furnace and at least one of the stands between which said furnace lies.

7. That process of reducing plates to thin which consists inpassing highly heated plate sections through successive stands of rolls to eflect reduction ofsame to thinness, said thin resulting plates having convexity extending lengthwise thereof, forming a pack of said plates, heating said pack, and reducing the heated pack to thin sheets in successive stands of rolls, said pack being furnished-to the steps of reduction into thin sheets as lengthwise sections of the thin plates. 1 I 8, That process of reducing metal to thin packs of and having a convexity extending down the middle thereof, and successively passing said packs through individual passing a heated pack stands of rolls, hav- 7 temperature of the pack between the stands of rolls and manipulating the pack so that the pieces forming the pack are free of adhesion before entering each pass. 10. That process of reducing metal to thin sheets which consists in providing a series of heated packs ofthin metal plates having a predetermined cross sectional convex contour, successively passing said packs through a number of stands of rolls, maintaining the temperature of the packs, and adjusting the rolls of the individual stands so'as to' elongate the packs equally throughout their width.

11. A continuous process of rolling sheet metal which consists in providing heated ingots, reducing them to long slabs by rolling,

cutting crosswise sections of the slabs, reduc ing the cut sections by continuous passage through successive stands of rolls to long plates, passing the plates through a furnace,

and at the exit of the furnace cross cutting the plate into sections of substantial length as distinguished from sheet bars, and passing said sections continuously through successive stands of rolls to reduce them to long thin plates.

12. A continuous process of roll ng sheet metal which consists in providing heated 1nlilo gots, reducing them to long slabsby rolling, cutting crosswisesections of the slabs and,

turning them at right anglesyreducing the cut sections by continuous passage through successive stands of rollsto long plates, passing the plates through a furnace, and at the exit of the furnace cross cutting the late into sections of substantial length as distinguished from sheet bars, and passing said sections continuously through successive stands of rolls to reduce them to long thin plates, forming packs or doubles of the long thin plates in a way so use) bring their lengthwise componentsinto superimposed position, sald packs being additionally heated and sheared transversely, and successively passing said packs through successivestands of rolls to reduce the individual pieces forming the packs to finishedgauge.

13; That process of reducing plates to thin sheets which consists in passing highly heated plate sections through successlve stands of rolls to effect reduction of same to thmness, said thin resulting plates having a pre-arran ed convexity extending lengthwise thereof, orming packs of said plates, heating said packs and reducing them in packs to thin sheets; said packs being furnished to the step of reduction into thin sheets as lengthvwise sections of the thin plates so as to result through a furnace between two at least of said stands, and manipulating the pack to separate and align the pieces formin the I pack with each other and with the line 0? feed from stand to stand, in the open intermediate the furnace and at least one of the stands between which the furnace lies.

J OHN B. TYTUS. 

